Saturday, September 25, 2010

One last post before it's Puppy Time. T-15 hours and we'll be dog owners once again. (sigh)

Anyway, earlier in the week it was Pedro that was cracking us up, and today it's Juan Carlos (7 yrs old). I was going through his Friday folder which contains all of his graded work from the week and I came across this little gem in which he has to list 10 mammals. I was there that day, helping some of the kids with this worksheet. He had one mammal left to go and told me he was going to put "naked mole rat", a totally acceptable mammal. I left him to finish up and went on to the next kid.

I should have checked his work. (you can click to enlarge)

Not "naked mole rat". No, no. He ended up writing "naked male" You can see the teacher's obvious confusion-the double question marks and the arrow pointing to #4, "people", which would obviously included all naked males (and clothed ones for that matter).

Oh my. I've been laughing all night thinking about what she must have been thinking when she read it.

("peking bird" was also a mystery-maybe he meant "Peking duck"? or a "pecking bird"? Who knows)

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Today in Pedro's home folder was the following note from his preschool teacher:

"Today Pedro thought someone said 'stupid' and told the kids in circle time, 'in our family we say 'uneducated'!!! I know I'm not supposed to have favorites, but...Love, F"It's true; Pedro has had a little problem with the word "stupid"; his siblings, being the jokers that they are, thought they'd be funny and teach him to replace the offending word with "uneducated".

Which he has.

Pedro has uneducated wii remotes that won't work, uneducated cats that won't let him pet them, uneducated train tracks that won't fit together right, an uneducated hermit crab that pinches him, uneducated flashlights that are out of batteries, and two very uneducated brothers.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Has another week come and gone? I tell you what, my biggest fear living here is that I'll wake up one morning and- BAM! I'M 45! Seriously, the weeks fly by.

So, the happenings of last week...

Tuesday

Tuesday night we went to the Rockies vs. Padres game. My mom's cousin's son, so her second cousin? And that would make him my second cousin once removed or something? It doesn't matter, any sort of extended cousins are just "cousins" in my family (especially when they are major league baseball players). So anyway, my cousin is the third baseman for the Padres and when they come to town we go to the games. This time we got to sit in great seats with his parents and the kids even got to go down by the dugout and talk to their "cousin". It was great fun.

Wednesday

Wednesday was a busy day. I helped out in Juan Carlos's class for the first time. I'm doing a swap with a friend where one stays home with the kids and the other volunteers in the classroom. She has the cutest 5 month old baby girl who makes me insanely baby hungry. Pedro probably doesn't have quite the same effect.

A little later in the day the boys' school had their annual "Jog-a-Thon" fundraiser. All the kids had to run around a 220 yard. lap for 20 minutes. We all had to pledge money per lap, the goal being to raise $35,000 ($85.00 per kid-sorry, we fell a bit short). Juan Carlos's goal was 15 laps and he ended up doing 16. The cool thing was that the kid had a grin on his face the.entire.race. He never complained (and if you know Juan Carlos, you know this is a minor miracle). Guapo, my mom and I took turns running around with him and he was pretty tough to keep up with.

Me and Juan Carlos:

Guapo and Juan Carlos:

Grandma and Juan Carlos:

Then there was poor Julio, who came home with a fever Tuesday after school; we drugged him with Tylenol so he could go see his "cousin" play. He woke up Wednesday morning worse (go figure), but he still wanted to run for his school-so I drugged him again and he went and ran/walk 13 laps. What a trooper!

I was greatly discouraged when we got home and lo-and-behold, what do I find in Juan Carlos's backpack but yet ANOTHER fundraising opportunity-this time selling cookie dough and wrapping paper.

Anyway, later that afternoon (poor Julio still under the effects of the fever reducing drug), we had cub scouts: we took a hike on a trail to pick up trash. I know, I know, I'm super hot in my cub scouts shirt.

But, I do have to mention here how much I'm enjoying being a den leader-it's so fun. The boys are cute and it's only an hour a week-how hard is that? Janice was right-it's a great calling to have.

ThursdayJulio still sick; Margarita comes home with a fever and a sore throat.

FridayI take both both kids to the doctor, despite the fact that Julio is markedly better, and after one quick whiff of Julio's breath he diagnoses them both with strep. Ok-how guilty did I feel for letting Julio run in the Jog-a-thon?

SaturdayMore soccer. Speedy Juan Carlos, who tends to shy away from the ball, sprinted his heart out to catch an opponent quickly approaching their goal and stopped him. His teammates were full of high-5's and celebratory chest bumps and instantly dubbed him "Lightning Bolt" which supposedly he "hates". He's retold the story 100 times this weekend- about how it was the same as scoring a goal since he stopped one. So cute.

Now if I could just get my act together and do a mini-posts during the week I wouldn't feel like such a lame blogger.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Just wanted you all to know I experienced an American first today: I went to Julio's and Juan Carlos's first soccer games. In my minivan, of course.

Are there any other requirements for being a "soccer mom" that I don't know about?

Unfortunately, both teams lost. :( Julio scored the only goal for his team, so at least there's that. For the most part the parents behaved-only a few who got a little too excited with calls made against their sons.

All and all, a fun time!

Next time I have to take orange slices (maybe then I'll be a true soccer mom?).

Thursday, September 09, 2010

No, I'm not really pregnant, but we do have a little "bundle of joy" arriving two weeks from tomorrow who will likely cause me as much work as a newborn.

Ta-Da:

We've come full circle here, folks. We started our marriage out with dogs, then we moved on to kids, and now, I guess, we're back to dogs (well, just "dog" for the foreseeable future, if I have any say in it, which I probably don't).

This one's all Guapo's doing. He's the dog guy. I've been holding him at bay for 9 years thanks to our "apartment living" and "frequent travels". We always told the kids we'd get a dog when we moved back to the US, and here.we.are. But it's not really the kids who want the dog-they are cat people thanks to years of my brainwashing. It's all Gaupo. (And guess who gets to get up at 5 am to let the little guy out? I've paid my dues over the last 12 1/2 years, thank you very much.)

Have I mentioned we have new furniture for the first time in our married life? Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

Since he's a Brazilian Terrier, bread by a Brazilian here in Wisconsin, he will have a Portuguese name, chosen by Guapo. And that name is (drum roll please) "Cuecas" (pronounced quay-cuss). That means boy's or men's underwear in Portuguese.

Why, you ask? I'm asking the same thing. It is kind of fun to say I guess, but really, who names their dog "Underwear" ?

Margarita says she's just going to lie about what it means there aren't a lot of Portuguese speakers around here. That's probably a good idea.

About Me

Hi! My name is Gabriela. I am mom to Margarita (13 1/2 yrs), Julio (11 yrs), Juan Carlos (8 1/2 yrs), and Pedro (4 1/2 yrs) and loving wife to Guapo. I am a recovering expat who rently returned from a 9 year stint spent in Venezulea, Mexico, and most recently, Brazil. No more maid, no more driver...just lots of laundry, cooking, and time in my minivan. It's all good. :)